Alex Koslov
|weight = |birth_date = |death_date = |birth_place =Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union |resides =Los Angeles, California |billed = Moscow, Russia |trainer = Jesse Hernandez Jorge "Skayde" Riviera Ricky Reyes Kendo Kashin Shinsuke Nakamura Minoru Tanaka Rocky Romero Toru Yano Daniel Bryan Negro Navarro |debut = May 23, 2003 |retired =April 9, 2015 |website = }} Alex Sherman (born January 21, 1984) is a Moldovan-born retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Alex Koslov. Koslov after his release from WWE made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Sherman formed a tag team with Rocky Romero known as Forever Hooligans and would go on to win IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice and the ROH World Tag Team Championship once. Professional wrestling career Early career Koslov was trained by Jesse Hernandez and made his professional wrestling debut in Covina, California on May 23, 2003, against Kid Karnage working as "Alex Pincheck". From 2003 until 2006 Koslov worked exclusively on the west coast of the United States, making appearances for promotions such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) and local National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliated groups. From 2005 and forward Koslov began working in Mexico and later on started making appearances all over the United States. On June 11, 2006 Koslov won the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship in Santa Monica, California from Karl Anderson, less than a month later he lost the title to Justin White. In 2008 Koslov participated in the annual ECWA Super 8 tournament working with other young "high flyers". In the first round he defeated Shannon Moore in what was considered an upset, then he defeated Chase del Monte in the second round before losing to Aden Chambers in the finals. Koslov's performance earned him positive reviews. Koslov did not win the tournament but he stole the show, working as a villain he riled up the crowd enough for one audience member to threaten him with a chair. New Japan Pro Wrestling (2012–2015) On April 16, Koslov was announced as a participant in New Japan Pro Wrestling's (NJPW) 2012 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. In the round-robin stage of the tournament, which ran from May 27 to June 9, Koslov won five out of his eight matches, but a loss to Low Ki in his final round-robin match caused him to narrowly miss advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. Koslov returned to New Japan on July 7, now representing the promotion's top villainous stable, Chaos, as a member of which he also reunited with former AAA partner Rocky Romero, with the two dubbing their tag team "Forever Hooligans". On July 22, Koslov and Romero defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Koslov and Romero made their first successful title defense on August 26 at a Sacramento Wrestling Federation (SWF) event in Gridley, California, defeating the team of A.J. Kirsch and Alex Shelley. Forever Hooligans made their second successful title defense on October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, defeating the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida). On October 21, Forever Hooligans entered the 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask in their first round match. On November 2, Koslov and Romero were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi). On November 11 at Power Struggle, Forever Hooligans lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to the winners of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament, the Time Splitters, ending their reign at 112 days. Koslov returned to New Japan in early 2013, and on February 10 at The New Beginning, he and Romero unsuccessfully challenged the Time Splitters for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Koslov and Romero regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from the Time Splitters. From late May to early June, Koslov took part in the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors, where he won four of his eight matches with a loss to Brian Kendrick in his final round-robin match on June 6 costing him a spot in the semifinals. Koslov and Romero made their first successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on June 22 at Dominion 6.22 in a rematch with the Time Splitters. Koslov and Romero then got involved in Chaos' rivalry with the Suzuki-gun stable, which led to their second successful title defense on July 20 against Taichi and Taka Michinoku. Koslov and Romero lost the title to Taichi and Michinoku in a rematch on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling. For the first half of 2014, Forever Hooligans received several new shots at the title, now held by The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), but were defeated each time, including in a three-way match, also involving the Time Splitters, on May 10 at Global Wars, a special event co-produced by NJPW and ROH in Toronto. Later in the month, Koslov was scheduled to take part in the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors, but after dislocating his left shoulder in his first match, he was forced to pull out of the tournament. On January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Forever Hooligans challenged for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by the defending champions, reDRagon, in a four-way match, also involving Time Splitters and The Young Bucks. After he and Romero lost to reDRagon in a non-title match the following day, Koslov took a victory lap around the ring and thanked Romero for sharing his career with for the past decade. On January 9, Koslov announced he was taking an "indefinite sabbatical" from professional wrestling. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Red Scare'' (Russian legsweep floated over into a bridging cobra clutch) **''Red Scare II'' (Fisherman buster floated over into a guillotine choke) **''Russian Elbow'' (Frog splash transitioned into an elbow drop) **''Russian Star Press'' (Shooting star press) **''Russian Strike'' (Discus elbow smash) **''Soviet Strike'' (Superkick) **Springboard splash *'Signature moves' **Multiple kicks to the back and head of a seated opponent, with theatrics **''Perestroika'' (Rope hung surfboard) **Russian legsweep *'With Rocky Romero' **'Double team finishing moves' ***''Contract Killer'' (Inverted Death Valley driver (Koslov) / Springboard knee drop (Romero) combination) *'Nicknames' **"Russian Hooligan" *'Entrance themes' **"Russia is Coming" by Yonosuke Kitamura **"Russian Strike" by New Japan Pro Wrestling Championships and accomplishments *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' **IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Rocky Romero *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'114' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014 *'Ring of Honor' **ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rocky Romero References Category:Moldovan professional wrestlers Category:Wrestlers Category:NJPW Roster Category:CHAOS Category:Gaijin Category:Retired